Water surfaces such as lakes or rivers may constitute hazards to humans. This type of hazard is especially frequent when the water surface is frozen, as the looks of the surface may be quite deceiving. Indeed, although it looks safe to circulate on the frozen surface, the ice may break under load, throwing a passer-by in freezing waters. Unfortunately, such situations happen regularly, especially in spring when the ice thaws.
When such situations occur, rescue teams rush on site to help the distressed person. In these cases, specialized equipment is often used. Such equipment may include a rescue water craft comprising an opening to pull the distressed person out of the water. Examples of such type of water crafts having openings are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,170,738 to Patten and U.S. Pat. No. 5,888,111 to Walker. U.S. Pat. No. 5,170,738 discloses an inflatable water craft having a raised bow and equipped with an opening in the bow circumscribed by an inflatable structure. This water craft is used by scuba divers to more easily pull themselves into the craft. However, the bow of this water craft, not being specifically designed for rescue operations, is too low to permit a floating distressed person to be rescued without pushing its head down in water. U.S. Pat. No. 5,888,111 to Walker describes an inflatable rescue water craft having both a raised bow and stern, each of the bow and stern circumscribing an opening by which a distressed person may be pulled in the water craft. Although this water craft is designed for rescue operations, it is more adapted for rescues in warm weather than rescues in cold weather. Indeed, the openings being of a limited dimension, it is cumbersome to extract from water a distressed person wearing large garments such as a snowmobile suit and sometimes even a helmet. Furthermore, in order to pull the distressed person from water, a rescuer needs to kneel down on a floor of the water craft and pull the distressed person on the floor. This rescuing position requires a large amount of force from the rescuer's arms and back, especially when the distressed person wears thick garments that become heavy with water. This renders the rescue cumbersome and causes a risk of injury to the rescuer. Another disadvantage of this particular water craft is that rescuers need to adopt a seated or kneeled down position when navigating on it, somehow limiting their field of view for searching.
There is therefore a need for an improved rescue water craft that is better adapted for rescuing operations and that provides rescuers with better options of rescuing and searching positions.